River terminal



Feb. 5, 1963 N. J. CAMPBELL 3,076,565

RIVER TERMINAL Filed March 21, 1962 INVENTOR NEAL J. CAMPBELL ATTORNEY to have permanent piers and docks.

United States atet G F 3,076,565 RIVER TERMINAL Neal J. Campbell, 7932 Gannon, University (Iity 30, Mo. Filed Mar. 21, 1962, Ser. No. 131,309 2 Claims. (Cl. 214-14) The present practice in constructing and operating river terminals is to either have a captive, that is an anchored barge located at the terminus of a road on the river, or

There are disadvantages inherent in both approaches to the solution of the problems of loading and unloading. The principal objections are derived from the high costs of such installations.

In general all previous construction work on river terminals has required the use of floating construction equipment. The requirement that the installation must be able to operate under the extreme limits of high and low water conditions, imposes a severe construction problem from the viewpoint of costs. Such installations require movable equipment such as derricks, booms, and the like, but these are but a small part of the expense and relatively much larger sums must be expended on those parts of the installation which cannot be moved. Thus, in changed conditions of operation, only the movable portion of the installation can be hauled away and he relatively larger portion may be abandoned.

In addition, economic conditions change and it often becomes attractive to establish a river'termi-nal at points on the river which are convenient to other facilities, such as chemical plants, refineries, etc. However the cost of such an installation is often prohibitive when the present practices are followed.

According to my invention the present practice is avoided, for I have designed a river terminal for loading and unloading of barges, which has relatively no permanent structure on the river bank, nor does it have any permanent floating equipment in the river itself.

One of the principal advantages of my invention is that all the construction work for the terminal is done on the land and consequently no floating construction equipment is required or used.

A further object of my invention is to provide a river terminal which is simple to construct and economical both to construct and to operate. It is designed to iit those circumstances under which the requirement for quantity of material to be handled in loading or unloading is small. Consequently the economics of the situation require that the cost be relatively cheap by comparison with present practices.

A further object of my invention is to provide a river terminal which can be effectively moved. By this I mean that almost the entire installation can be moved by land journey to another position on the river and thereby almost the entire operation can be salvaged when it is desired to so move.

An additional object of my invention is to provide an arrangement for high water conditions such that all equipment can be so positioned that it does not project into the river. Therefore there is no need for or requirement that there be a watchman on duty or lights maintained. This factor contributes fully to the economy of operation which is required for such an installation since the expense of a watchmans salary, while it is small, is continuous and consequently amounts to a sizable factor in a yearly budget for such an installation.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a river terminal for which all maintenance work can be accomplished from the land. Thus no floating equipment 'ice terminal which is not knocked out by floods or high water, when there is inevitably floating debris in the stream.

With these and other objects and advantages in view, the invention resides in the certain new and useful combination, construction, and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, set forth in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view, showing the relative positions of the barge and derricks in full lines for low water conditions and in dotted lines for high water conditions; and

FIGURE 2 is horizontal section, taken through the line 22 of FIGURE 1, showing the relative positions at low water conditions again in full lines, and the positions 7 at high water conditions in dotted lines.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in both views, the barge to be loaded or unloaded atthe river terminal is indicated by 1, at its low water position, and 1 at its high water position. All loading and unloading of the barge is accomplished by the large boom 2, mounted upon the mast 3, rotatable on the bull wheels 4, which is in turn mounted on the mast foundation 5. The mast 3 is stabilized by guy wires 6 attached to its upper tip, only one of which is illustrated in FIGURE 2. The guy wires 6 are conventional and are stabilized at their other ends by being attached to foundations sunk in the ground rearward of the water.

Assuming that the river water is flowing to the left in FIGURE 1, and that consequently the barge must be anchored so that it will not drift leftward in that figure, I provide an anchor cable 7 which is tied to the barge at the center of its right end. The anchor cable 7 then is passed around the capstan car puller head 3, and then to the electric winch 9, for which I prefer to use a twin barge mover.

Securing the position of the barge 1 relative to the land are a pair of stiif-leg derricks 10 and 11. Each derrick is provided with a mast. The mast for derrick 10 is numbered 12, and its legs are numbered 13, 13. The legs are secured upon foundations '14, 14 while the ioundations for the derrick 11 are numbered 15, 15. The derricks are provided with booms 16 and 17 respectively. Both of the booms are free to swing in the conventional manner but are operated by means of guide cables 18, and 19 respectively. In FIGURE 2 it will be seen that the boom 16 can be raised and lowered at the command of the control cable 20. Similar control cables are provided for the control of the other booms 17 and 2.

The control cables are entirely conventional and therefore discussion Will be directed to the control of the guide cables and the anchor cable which comprise the essential control for the arrangement.

The guide cables 18 and 19 are each operated through an electric winch 21 and 22 respectively. Both of these electric winches 21 and 22 and the winch 9 are controlled from the console control 23 at which the operator works.

At the operators console 23 there are also provided the conventional controls for the raising and lowering of the booms 16, 1'7 and 2, mentioned previously. These are controlled through the control cables 20 and are well known in the art.

However the operator has an additional set of controls not previously used in this connection. They are the controls for the winches 21, 22 and 9. By means of these controls he can move the barge in or out from the land to adapt to changing conditions of high or low water.

In the low water condition illustrated by full lines, the barge 1 is seen to float at some distance from the so as to relax or let out on the anchor cable 7. Thus cable 7, which passes around the capstan car puller head 8 lengthens and the barge 1, secured to the cable 7, is allowed to float leftward with the stream in FIGURE 1.

At the same time the operator turns on the electric winches 21 and 22. The direction in which the winches are turned is such that the guide cables 18 and 19, which pass around the capstans 24 and 25 respectively'and which capstans are mounted on the foundations 26 and 27 respectively, swing the booms 16 and 17 respectively to the left. They thus assume the dotted line positions 16' and 17 of FIG. 1. The boom 16' is shown in FIG- URE 2.

Since the water has risen the boom control cables 20 must also be operated, and they assume the position 20' shown in FIGURE 2.

It will nowlbe apparent that the barge has been moved to the position 1 of FIGURE 2, which is higher and distant away in FIGURE 2. In such a condition the water is seen to have risen to cover the foundation in FIGURE 2. However the barge has been literally pulled out of the main current of the stream in which it would have'remained had the operator not operated the winches.

As the water gradually falls, the operator reverses the above procedure. He operates the winches in the reverse sense, swinging the booms 16 and 17 to the right or clockwise in FIGURE 1. At the same time he operates winch 9 so as to move the barge to the right in FIGURE 1. In this manner he moves the barge to the full line position in both figures.

It will be noted that the loading and'unloading boom 2 can be used at both extreme positions, so'that it is not necessary to cease operations when the water rises or recedes.

Of course it is necessary to build the foundations 5, 14, 15, 26 and 27 strong enough so that they can withstand the impact of a barge hitting against them under high water conditions, or the impact of another barge 4 or boat hitting against the barge 1 and transmitting the momentum through the booms to the foundations. However my construction satisfies all the requirements described in my inventions objects. The simple economical nature of the construction provides a radical departure from present practice.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is:

1. A river terminal consisting of a set of foundations built upon the land adjacent the river, a pair of stiff-leg derricks mounted upon said foundations, booms mounted upon said derricks, said booms being adapted to engage with a barge stationed at said terminal, guide cables on said foundations to control sidewise swinging of said booms, and electric winches to control movement of said guide cables, a loading mast and boom mounted on said foundations between said pair of stiff-leg derricks, a capstan car puller head fixed in position upstream of said barge station, an anchor cable at the head of said barge passed around said puller head and an electric winch to control the movement of said anchor cable and hence control the upstream position of said barge, and a control panel console for the operator of said terminal to control the operation of said electric winches.

2. A river terminal consisting of a pair of stiff-leg derricks mounted upon foundations adjacent to said river, booms mounted upon said derricks, said booms adapted to engage with a barge stationed at said terminal through swinging movement, guide cables on said booms to control the swinging movement of said booms, electric winches to control the movement of said guide cables, a loading mast and associated boom mounted upon a foundation between said pair of derricks, a capstan head of said anchor cable and thereby control the position of said barge relative to said capstan head, and a control console for the operator of said terminal to control the operation of the electric winches and thereby control the relative position of the barge with respect to the terminal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hunt et al. Dec. 11, 1956 Weiner July 26, 1960 

1. A RIVER TERMINAL CONSISTING OF A SET OF FOUNDATIONS BUILT UPON THE LAND ADJACENT THE RIVER, A PAIR OF STIFF-LEG DERRICKS MOUNTED UPON SAID FOUNDATIONS, BOOMS MOUNTED UPON SAID DERRICKS, SAID BOOMS BEING ADAPTED TO ENGAGE WITH A BARGE STATIONED AT SAID TERMINAL, GUIDE CABLES ON SAID FOUNDATIONS TO CONTROL SIDEWISE SWINGING OF SAID BOOMS, AND ELECTRIC WINCHES TO CONTROL MOVEMENT OF SAID GUIDE CABLES, A LOADING MAST AND BOOM MOUNTED ON SAID FOUNDATIONS BETWEEN SAID PAIR OF STIFF-LEG DERRICKS, A CAPSTAN CAR PULLER HEAD FIXED IN POSITION UPSTREAM OF SAID BARGE STATION, AN ANCHOR CABLE AT THE HEAD OF SAID BARGE PASSED AROUND SAID PULLER HEAD AND AN ELECTRIC WINCH TO CONTROL THE MOVEMENT OF SAID ANCHOR CABLE AND HENCE CONTROL THE UPSTREAM POSITION OF SAID BARGE, AND A CONTROL PANEL CONSOLE FOR THE OPERATOR OF SAID TERMINAL TO CONTROL THE OPERATION OF SAID ELECTRIC WINCHES. 